A BUS company boss has criticised plans for a bus station as part of Chester's £280m Northgate Development.

Stuart Hyslop, managing director of Chester Bus, has consistently argued the proposed replacement for the Princess Street bus exchange is not big enough.

In a letter leaked to The Chronicle , he repeated his views, making it apparent his concerns have never been properly addressed by the city council, which is backing the retail scheme by Real Estate ING.

Mr Hyslop said: 'With only 15 stands, we do not believe that this will cope with existing departures, let alone any increase in services caused by the demand from passengers using services to the east of Chester which presently terminate in Frodsham/Foregate Street.'

But he also raised safety concerns about the lay-out of the bus station, which will be located slightly further north than the current bus exchange at the back of what will be a House of Fraser department store.

It would involve vehicles driving into bays, so passengers would not have to cross lanes of traffic but the vehicles would reverse out.

But Mr Hyslop said: 'I do not believe that the public can be kept from walking behind the vehicles.'

But he said he was not opposed to the development, and said: 'Chester has to compete with out-of-town shopping centres.'

Chester Transport Group chairman David Booth said: 'Stuart has been quite consistent in his views on the bus station design from day one. It seems to me that nothing has changed and good practice is being ignored.'

Cliff Mallows, head of the Northgate Development project at Chester City Council, said: 'It's disappointing to note the negative comments from Mr Hyslop following the extensive consultation under-taken by the county and the city councils in 2002 with all the bus operators.

'Two full-scale trials were carried out at Hooton in 2002 and a series of meetings held at which the layout, including reversing buses, was agreed.'